<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>tumble homeward by thatlittlesoul</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26444290">tumble homeward</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatlittlesoul/pseuds/thatlittlesoul'>thatlittlesoul</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Universe, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon Fix-It, Sharing a Bed, i don't even care how the series ends post-empty deancas lives in my head rent free, idk sometimes u gotta binge write to 2012 mumford and sons, that's the creative process babey!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:34:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,975</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26444290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatlittlesoul/pseuds/thatlittlesoul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean watches Cas’s gaze flit from the floor to the wall behind him, and he’s not consciously aware of deciding anything but he’s inhaling to say something, and he guesses it better be good because there’s not a whole lot he can say to heal emptiness. </p>
<p>“Sleep in my room,” he says, and he’s not sure which of them it surprises more.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>184</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>tumble homeward</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They’ve had Cas back for four days when Dean realizes something is wrong.</p>
<p>For a paralyzing moment, he stumbles on the thought, feels the fear of it choking him as he freezes in the doorway with a mug of coffee in his hand. He watches Cas blink dazedly at Sam’s debriefing on the rugaru in San Antonio and wills himself forward, wills his mind not to go straight to darkness and loss and cosmic consequences. Cas flashes a ragged smile as Dean sets the mug in front of him, and it occurs to Dean that maybe this is less about cosmic consequences than it is humanity. </p>
<p>Now that Dean thinks about it, he can see it: the circles under his eyes, the weary slope of his back-- the things Dean had attributed to resurrection rather than humanity. </p>
<p>Cas is human, though, and Dean thinks he needs to remember that before he remembers that he was gone. </p>
<p>Cas needs food and laundry detergent and coffee and sleep, and now that he thinks about it Dean is absolutely sure he hasn’t seen Cas touch his bed since he got back. </p>
<p>He doesn’t bring it up; they’ve been here before. They’ve come back and kept secrets and spent sleepless nights trying to fix things before, and heart-to-hearts have never gotten them anywhere. </p>
<p>Instead, Dean drinks three pots of coffee and waits.</p>
<p>It’s 2:07 AM when he hears the echo of footsteps in the hallway. He swings open the door and tries to look like he hasn’t been waiting in ambush as Cas freezes.</p>
<p>“Dean,” he says, voice rough and a little frantic, and Dean is reminded of the days he’d wake up to Cas blithely watching him from the foot of his bed. (The days when Heaven filled the space between them and Dean didn't understand the difference between being a human and being human.) </p>
<p>He watches Cas’ eyes flit away from his gaze and smiles brazenly. “Trouble sleeping?” </p>
<p>Cas shifts on his feet. “No,” he says like he’s not the worst liar in the entire multiverse.</p>
<p>Dean holds his gaze for another beat before breathing a sigh. “Cas.” He settles back against the doorframe to scrutinize him. “What’s up?” </p>
<p>Cas swallows. His eyes trace a scuff on the floor. “It gets so quiet here at night,” he mutters, and Dean understands.</p>
<p>He works his jaw as he realizes. He thinks he should’ve recognized the signs. He should’ve seen the tired eyes and haunted glances and known then, because Dean doesn’t know what it’s like to come back from nothingness, but he knows what it’s like to close his eyes and see hell.</p>
<p>He watches Cas’s gaze flit from the floor to the wall behind him and settle just above Dean’s left shoulder, and he’s not consciously aware of deciding anything but he’s inhaling to say something, and he guesses it better be good because there’s not a whole lot he can say to heal emptiness. </p>
<p>“Sleep in my room,” he says, and he’s not sure which of them it surprises more. </p>
<p>“Dean—” Cas starts, and Dean knows he’s going to refuse, but there’s a millisecond where his gaze catches on Cas’s and there’s something heavy in the space between them, and Dean knows what it is but he’s always refused to put a name to it.</p>
<p>Cas swallows as he looks away. “As long as you don’t mind,” he says, and Dean also tears his gaze away before he can do something dumb like consider the vulnerability of it. </p>
<p>“Come on then,” he mutters as he heads back into his room. “You can take the bed.”</p>
<p>“Dean—” Cas protests like Dean knew he would, and Dean narrowly avoids rolling his eyes.</p>
<p>“We’ll both take it then,” he says before he can ponder the sheer idiocy of it. </p>
<p>Cas hesitates beside the bed, but Dean thinks he must be either too tired or too apathetic to argue, because he swallows and steps forward. </p>
<p>Cas is careful as he pulls back the comforter and settles in; he’s careful not to take too much blanket or too much space, and they both lie stiffly on their respective sides of the bed until Dean decides he can’t take it anymore and clears his throat a little obnoxiously. He hears Cas huff a laugh. </p>
<p>“You said it was too quiet,” Dean says softly, and he’s grateful for the darkness because he thinks he’s wearing a damningly fond expression. </p>
<p>He thinks he feels Cas relax as he mutters, “that’s on me, then.” </p>
<p>The stillness doesn’t feel so stifling after that, and he hears Cas’s breathing start to even out. </p>
<p>He can feel the thrum of caffeine in his veins as he watches the ceiling. Even in the dark, he can see the outline of the ceiling fan, the trimming on the wall, the chair in the corner. He can hear Cas’s breathing, feel the warmth in the space between them, and he realizes he has no idea what emptiness is. He wonders how long it’s been since Cas closed his eyes without seeing it. </p>
<p>He lies awake for the next three hours, but the rise and fall of Cas’s chest is steady and even beside him, so the caffeine overdose is a small price to pay. There are no windows in his room, but if there were he’d be able to see the first hazy traces of sunrise filtering in by the time he starts to drift off. </p>
<p>Cas is gone when he wakes up. </p>
<p>He staggers out of his room just before noon, and Cas doesn’t quite meet his eye as he wordlessly hands him a plate of pancakes, courtesy of Sam and Eileen, but Dean thinks the circles under his eyes look a little less absurd, and it’s enough. </p>
<p>The next night, Dean leaves his door open. </p>
<p>He isn’t sure what he’s expecting, but 11:00 rolls around and he’s just getting ready to turn out the lights when he hears a tentative knock at the doorframe. He looks up to see Cas in the doorway. </p>
<p>“I couldn’t sleep,” Cas mumbles, and something about his awkward stance and fragile uncertainty makes Dean’s chest ache. </p>
<p>He thinks this is where he becomes brash; this is where he scoffs a laugh and brushes off this heaviness like neither of their shoulders are bowed under the weight of what-ifs. This is where he flees back to the safe side of the lines they’ve drawn. </p>
<p>He swallows. “You wanna come in?” </p>
<p>Cas stills. “I--” his eyes flit to Dean and then away in a millisecond. “No. I just--” </p>
<p>“Cas,” Dean interrupts, and he guesses he’s being reckless instead of brash and can’t say whether it’s for the best but he can feel the thrill of it in his veins. “Get in here.” </p>
<p>Cas watches him for half a beat, probably just as surprised as Dean is that he’s managed not to be a defensive asshole about this, and then he swallows. “Thank you.” </p>
<p>Dean thinks he absolutely doesn’t deserve a thank you, but Cas shuffles in and hesitates at the side of the bed and before he can say as much he’s pulling the comforter aside to make room. </p>
<p>Dean falls asleep earlier tonight; he thinks it has something to do with not being hyped up on three pots of coffee and the thrill of reckless, stupid ideas. He’s not sure when Cas nodded off, but he wakes up at 3:42 to the sound of gasping, panicked breathing. </p>
<p>“Cas?” He asks with a sleep-worn voice but he’s halfway across the bed, reaching for Cas’s shoulder before he can get a response or take half a second to consider how horrible an idea this is. </p>
<p>“Dean,” Cas breathes, and Dean isn’t sure if it’s a question or an answer or a prayer but Cas’s breath mingles with his as he says it and something in the fragile space between them finally shatters as Cas leans into the touch. </p>
<p>Dean pulls him into his chest, holds him there and tries not to let the ache of it convince him he’s going to regret this.</p>
<p>Cas clutches the back of Dean’s shirt like it’s all that’s keeping him tethered to this world where things are allowed to make noise and wake up and see light, and Dean rests his palms against Cas’s shoulders and wishes he had the words to promise he’s holding on just as tight. </p>
<p>Dean isn’t sure how long it is, whether it’s two minutes or three hours or an eternity, but Cas’s grip on his shirt loosens, and he breathes less stuttered exhales, and he rests his chin somewhere in the crook of Dean’s shoulder and closes his eyes. </p>
<p>Dean leans slowly back against the headrest and thinks he’s never been very good at this. </p>
<p>The intimacy of it is familiar—the weight of an arm over his stomach, the heady tangle of limbs, the needy warmth— that’s always come naturally to him. It’s the tenderness that gets him. It’s the brush of Cas’ breath against his neck, the softness of ten years of fear and loss and a word that Dean can’t say as easily as he should. It’s the ache where the rhythm of his pulse screams something between <i>I want this forever</i> and <i>I’m so afraid</i>.  </p>
<p>Cas is gone when he wakes up. </p>
<p>Cas is gone, and Dean’s arm is stiff and he wonders if it will ever be enough just to hold an angel haunted by empty nights. </p>
<p>That night, he tells himself he isn't waiting for the knock. </p>
<p>He tells himself he’s not waiting, but he hears the shuffle of bare feet in the hall and a single rap at the door and a millisecond later he’s swinging it open. </p>
<p>Tonight, there’s no apologetic hesitance or fumbling for words.</p>
<p>There’s Cas, standing plainly in the doorway and there’s Dean, dropping his hand from the doorknob and standing too close. There’s the tilt of Cas’s head as he searches Dean’s face for something Dean knows with terrified certainty he’ll find, and there’s Dean’s gaze flitting to his mouth for a stupid, breathless moment. There’s the part of Cas’s lips and the desperate beating of Dean’s heart, the distant electric buzz of the lights and the hitch of his breath as Cas leans forward—</p>
<p>There’s the cluttered breath and scrape of teeth as their mouths crash together.</p>
<p>His lungs stutter on the drag of stubble and chapped lips and tired warmth, and because he never thought he’d be allowed to, he pulls Cas in, clutches the front of his shirt and crowds him up against the doorway until they’re pressed together and they can both feel the desperate rhythm of his pulse. Cas’s fingers ghost over his jaw and something in Dean is absolutely dizzy with the realness of it. </p>
<p>He doesn’t know how long it is before Cas breaks away but he feels ready to shatter. </p>
<p>“I couldn’t sleep,” Cas says, and Dean breathes a ragged laugh into his shoulder. </p>
<p>There are still things he can’t say, words that form in his chest and sit like a lump in his throat and will probably stay unsaid for just a little while longer, but he lets his arms circle Cas’ waist and murmurs “sleep in here, then,” and he has to bury his face in the crook of Cas’ neck to hide a stupidly fond smile.  </p>
<p>Cas breathes a soft “thank you” against his temple as Dean pulls him toward the bed, and Dean can hear the worn tiredness in his voice and thinks that might be all there is for a while but for the first time in their lives they have time, and it’s enough. </p>
<p>It’s enough, he thinks, and he pulls Cas against his chest and holds onto him until there’s no empty space between them.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks so much if you've made it this far! i obviously live for feedback of any kind, even if it's just incomprehensible screaming about the impending final episodes. ;)<br/>Feel free to come find me on tumblr as <a href="https://a-give-em-hell-attitude.tumblr.com">@a-give-em-hell-attitude</a> where i conduct most of my clownery</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>